When history judges the relatively short tenure of Tim Leiweke as the chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, one of the most significant moments will be his handling of a resurgence of the organization’s MLS franchise.

Long a weak sister of the four sports franchises — Toronto FC has yet to make a playoff appearance in its seven-year history — the Reds made the splashiest move imaginable under Leiweke’s guidance and at his insistence.

“The link between what we did with TFC from November on (with the signings) and what we’re doing with the stadium is tied hand-in-hand in order to make sure that we have a stadium that is one of the best in the league,” Leiweke said in March. “At the same time we needed a team that guaranteed the economics of this worked so we can cover it through the private sector.”

The only failure was an attempt to bring the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts under the MLSE umbrella and house them at the refurbished BMO Field. Unable to secure the total government funding for part of the renovation, the possible purchase of the Argos seems dead in the water, robbing MLSE of a fifth professional franchise to go along with the Raptors, Maple Leafs, TFC and the AHL’s Marlies.

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